Cheddar Jalapeño Bread

Chapter 20: Dragon Baking

Here he goes. Don't think about Mirabel. Don’t think about Mirabel. Dragons. Nothing could ever be as spectacular as all the dragons he spent the last few months with. Dragons are enough for him.

“Why hello, Gregory! Boy, do I have stories to tell you. Those dragons were just fantastic. What a splendid time I’ve had amongst them!” Svend started out strong. Gregory will never suspect him.

“Oh, come off it. You’re still in love with Mirabel, anyone with eyes can see that.” Gregory, cut straight to the heart of the matter immediately.

“Psh. What? Why would you ever think that? I’m a dragon about dragons these days! Can’t get dragons off the mind!” Svend spluttered indignantly.

“Svend, you really are a terrible liar. You came back the literal hour your allotted visit length was up and you couldn’t even make it to this meeting without seeing Mirabel first. You’re holding her lemon rolls. Half eaten too, so I hope it wasn’t for me. Just tell me what your new, terrible, love-struck plan is so I can at least pretend to talk you out of it. Actually, better yet, don’t tell me. I want deniability when all this goes down. You can’t possibly think it will turn out well, do you?” Gregory rubbed his temples in what Svend knew was his attempt to postpone a tension headache.

“Oh good garbage. I thought I could keep it under wraps for a bit longer than that! Fine. Mirabel is my everything. I’m not giving up. But! I remember my promise to never tell a human that I’m a dragon, so you needn’t worry about that.” Svend was honestly quite relieved to have that out in the open. Gregory was much too observant and sneaking around gave Svend nervous sweat, something he had absolutely no experience with as a dragon and he did not enjoy as a human.

“Well, your very specific wording of that promise is not encouraging in the least but, as I said, tell me nothing. I have given my warnings and now if you want to sink your ship with this human, it’s your tail on the line, not mine.” Gregory was actually looking forward to Svend’s antics, this was the most entertained he had been in decades.

“In that case, I have things to do and a lady to woo. Skit-skat dragon, I’m on a mission.” Svend was so excited to put his plan in action he left Gregory without even waiting for a response. He went straight to Leoric’s house where he spent an appropriate amount of time “Oohing” and “Ahhing” over their little bundle of squeals, I mean joy, Leif. Leif actually seemed to like Svend. His smoky dragon scent must be similar enough to Leoric’s blacksmith scent that the boy didn’t mind. But Svend didn’t know the first thing about caring for little fragile humans so he really only wanted to admire from afar.

Now, onto the matter at hand. “Mirabel, I was wondering if perhaps, when you have a little time, you might be able to, maybe, teach me a little baking?” Smooth, Svend thought to himself, Irresistibly smooth. Let’s just hope Mirabel doesn’t mind my ramblings.

“Baking?” Mirabel replied in surprise. “You know that baking takes patience, right, Svend? Something you have…. Very little of, if I’m completely honest.” Mirabel had seen Svend’s infamous dragon temper one too many times.

“You are correct, oh wise one, but I am determined to change that and what better motivation to develop patience than a delicious loaf of bread? I could teach you something too, so your time isn’t wasted. I’ve been learning dragon stories from Gregory, they’re great fun. I can teach them to you while we bake, if you’re interested?” Note to self, ask Gregory to teach him dragon stories. Svend needed Mirabel to love dragons completely for this plan to work.

“That does sound fun! I’ve always been interested in those stories, but Gregory is a little bit scary, so I’ve never asked him.” Mirabel grinned sheepishly at Svend.

“It’s settled then! Baking lessons in exchange for stories. Let’s begin at once, what shall we bake?” Svend didn’t want to waste another minute, he was already worried Mirabel would go back to her village before he would have enough time to complete her transformation.

“Ha! Patient, as always, Svend. We need to wait till Leif takes a nap, I’m here to help with the baby after all, can’t be shirking my duties” Mirabel tossed a wink at Fiora, who was currently nursing the tiny baby.

“Well, in that case, maybe we should start with a dragon story and some tea. I picked up a special brew as I was traveling. It's quite tasty, if you’re a tea drinker?” Svend held his breath. Tea was a crucial part of his plan. He had developed a special brew that was strong enough to mask the dragon blood he would be mixing in. But if Mirabel didn’t like tea he would be back to square one.

“Sure, pour us a cup and we’ll have some story time. Even little Leif loves stories.” Mirabel relaxed into a chair as she watched Svend release a not so subtle sigh of relief at her response. She hadn’t seen him so flustered since she first got back to Fiora’s house months ago. It was a tiny bit adorable to see him trying so hard to spend time with her. She always enjoyed his company and baking together would be an interesting endeavor to say the least. As Svend prepared the shockingly dark tea, she debated if she should start his lessons with something easy or give him a challenge. Maybe right in the middle, wouldn’t want to scare him off on the first lesson. But she couldn’t have him thinking he didn’t need a teacher at all if it was too easy. Got it, Cheddar Jalapeño Bread. It looks and tastes divine, but takes a little bit of a baker’s touch. Plus, it smells so good as it’s cooking, it takes serious patience to leave it in long enough. The perfect trial run for Svend. This is the bread they made.